It’s a sticky, boiling hot day in Paris, London, Rome, Athens or any other heatwave-stricken European destination. You flop down in a cafe after a morning spent on your feet. You order a refreshing cold drink. The beverage arrives and it’s lukewarm. No ice cubes to be seen. Just as there are cultural differences in how some U.S. folks and Europeans handle the tap water versus mineral water question, there’s also a divide when it comes to the iciness of beverages. There has been a slew of memes, TikToks and Instagram Reels that have popped up in recent summers as Americans decamp to Europe and come face to face with room-temperature drinks. That social media trend is capturing, as historian Jonathan Rees put it, a genuine, “historically determined” cultural difference. “The entire world does not have as much interest in ice as the United States does,” said Rees. Another author, Amy Brady, whose book “Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks — A Cool History of a Hot Commodity” contemplates the environmental consequences of populating so many aspects of life with frozen chunks of water, agreed. “Americans are unique on the world stage in terms of our absolute obsession with ice,” she said. That rings true for New Yorker Isabel Tan, who is originally from Singapore and grew up around different attitudes toward refrigeration. “It’s a cultural thing in the Asian culture to believe that drinking warm drinks is better for you,” she said. Years in New York converted Tan to the icy way of life. “I definitely prefer ice drinks. Even in the winter, I will drink an iced coffee,” she said. U.K.-based Claire Dinhut has a different perspective: “I personally really don’t like ice,” she said. “I find that ice dilutes the overall flavor of the beverage, falls on your face and spills your drink when you try to drink it, and is a good way for people to hide the actual amount of drink in a cup,” said Dinhut. Essays and letters from Charles Dickens, the famous 19th century English author, recounted how he, on a visit to America, was shocked and disgusted by what he called the mounds of ice overflowing from American drinks. As the 19th century rolled into the 20th, ice was cemented as a status symbol in the U.S. “Marketing campaigns talked about ice like they would talk about an automobile or a TV set,” says Brady. In Europe, ice never gained the same popularity. Whereas Americans look upon ice with glee, generally speaking Europeans view ice as unnecessary, and even a little gross. (SD-Agencies) 在巴黎、倫敦、羅馬、雅典或其他遭受熱浪襲擊的歐洲城市，一個悶熱難耐的日子里，你逛了一上午后癱坐在咖啡館里，點了一杯清爽冷飲。飲料端上來卻是溫熱的，連冰塊影子都看不到。就像美國人和歐洲人在自來水與礦泉水選擇上存在文化差異一樣，雙方對飲料加冰也持不同態度。 近年來隨著美國人涌向歐洲度假，針對常溫飲料他們創作了大量表情包、TikTok和Instagram短視頻。正如歷史學家喬納森·里斯所言，這種社交媒體趨勢反映了一種真實的、源于歷史的文化差異。里斯表示： “全世界對冰塊的興趣都不及美國。” 另一位研究冰塊文化的作家艾米·布雷迪也贊同這一觀點，她在著作《冰：從飲料到滑冰場——一種熱門商品的酷歷史》中，探討了冰塊在生活各方面廣泛應用對環境的影響。她指出：“美國人對冰塊的癡迷程度在世界舞臺上獨樹一幟。” 出生在新加坡的紐約人伊莎貝爾·陳對此深有感觸，她在不同文化中長大。“亞洲文化認為喝熱飲更健康，這是一種文化習慣。”但在紐約生活多年后，陳女士已轉變為“冰鎮生活”的擁躉：“我現在絕對偏愛冰飲，即便冬天也要喝冰咖啡。” 英國居民克萊爾·迪納特則持相反觀點：“我個人非常不喜歡冰塊。冰塊沖淡了飲料風味，喝的時候容易濺到臉上，還讓商家有機會偷工減料。” 19世紀英國文豪查爾斯·狄更斯在信件和文章中曾提到，他對美國飲料里堆積如山的冰塊感到震驚與厭惡。 隨著時間來到20世紀，冰塊在美國演變為身份象征。布雷迪解釋道：“當時的營銷話術把冰塊說得像汽車電視機一樣高級。”而在歐洲大陸，冰塊始終未能獲得同等青睞。當美國人歡欣鼓舞地往杯里加冰時，歐洲人普遍認為冰塊既多余又有點惡心。(Translated by DeepSeek) | 